1. GENERAL

1.1. About Changes to These Terms and Conditions

I. We reserve the right to make changes to any part of the Site. Due to our policy of updating and improving the Site, we may wish to change these Terms and Conditions (including those relating to your use of Content). Your acceptance of any changes to these Terms and Conditions is made by your using the Site after we have published or notified you of the changes. If you do not accept the changes, you should not use the Site any further after the changes have been published at the end of these Terms and Conditions or after you receive notice of changes to the Terms and Conditions.

II. In accessing information from the Website you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions of Use as set out below.

III. The Website contains proprietary notices and copyright information the terms of which you agree to observe and follow.

1.2. About Termination of Your Registration by Us

If you breach any term of these Terms and Conditions we reserve the right to immediately terminate your registration and/or any other service provided by us via the site to you. On termination you will stop using the Site online services made available to you as a registered user.

1.3. Governing Law

The information and other contents of this website are designed to comply with Scots Law. This website shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Scots Law and all parties irrevocably submit to the jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts. If anything on this website is construed as being contrary to the laws applicable in any other country, then this website is not intended to be accessed by persons from that country. Any persons who are subject to such laws shall not be entitled to use this website unless they can satisfy us that such use would be lawful.

1.4. Services Available On This Site to Users

We will provide the following services:

Provide hosting and maintenance of the Site to make available the following Services:

Subjects – Allow you to access information and services by subject.

Organisations – Allow you to access news, events and information organisations within fife.

Your Town – Allow you to search for information, news events relating to a specific town.

Do It Online – Allow you to access Online Services, Forms and Searches.

News – Allow you to search for and view news articles

What´s on – Allow you to search for and view information about events

My homepage – Access to your registration details and preferences and record of online services requested. Available to registered users only.

A to Z – an alphabetical list of services provided by the Council and other Fife organisations

Further services are being developed and you will be notified of any changes to these Terms and Conditions as those services become available.

2. CONTENT

Fife Council uses all reasonable powers to comply with the Data Protection Legislation 2018 and the following principles:

(a) Personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully this means that individuals should not be deceived or misled into supplying information.

(b) Personal data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to its purpose.

(c) Data should only be obtained for a specified purpose and should not be used for any other purpose.

(d) Personal data should be accurate and up to date where necessary.

(e) Personal data should not be kept longer than is needed for its intended purpose.

(f) Personal data must be processed in accordance with the rights of the individual which the information concerns.

(g) Appropriate measures must be taken against unlawful processing or destruction of records. Computer systems should have back up facilities and security provisions.

(h) Personal data must not be transferred outside the European Economic Area (the EU states plus Lichtenstein, Iceland and Norway).

2.2. Ownership

This website is protected by copyright and is owned by us. All material on the Site or made available via the Site and all material made available to you via e-mail (referred to in these Terms and Conditions as the "Content") belongs to us or to organisations who provide public services in Fife. To see a full list of organisations who contribute to the site please refer to "about fifedirect" (link from footer bar).

2.3. Use of content

You may retrieve and display Content from the Site on a computer screen, print individual pages on paper and store such pages in electronic form on disk (but not on any server or other storage device connected to a network) for your personal, non-commercial use provided that you acknowledge the copyright owner. Except as expressly set out above, you may not reproduce, modify or in any way commercially exploit any of the Content. In particular, please contact us to obtain our consent first if you wish to:

(a). redistribute any of the Content (including by using it as part of any library, archive or similar service);

(b). remove the copyright or trade mark notice from any copies of Content made under these Terms and Conditions; or

(c). create a database in electronic or structured manual form by systematically downloading and storing all or any of the Content.

In the unlikely event that you find any inaccurate information on the Site or have any complaint about what we have published please email fifedirect@fife.gov.uk. We will investigate on receipt and take such action which we consider, in our opinion, is deemed necessary.
You acknowledge that "Fife Council" and "fifedirect" are our trade marks and that you may not use them without written permission from us.

2.4. Disclosure

Fife Council if required by law, may disclose personal information. Fife Council may disclose personal information in good faith if it believes it is required to do so by any order of the Courts or other competent body or agency or may do so to protect or defend the rights or property of Fife Council or to protect the personal safety of Fife Council's employees or the public at large.

2.5. Links

I. Fife Council's website has links to other websites which will have different privacy, trading and use policies and conditions and you should familiarise yourself with those as Fife Council are not responsible for these sites in any way or form.

II. Any links to Third Party Sites are provided solely for the purpose of your convenience. They do not constitute any form of recommendation.

III. Please also note that the right to reproduce any contents of these websites may also be restricted by the terms and conditions of the Third Party Sites.

IV. Links to this site are welcomed,however they must be removed if requested by Fife Council

VI. We do not permit a website to link if it contains material which is libellous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene, or is in any way a breach of the law or infringes any third party intellectual property rights.

2.6. Errors

Information contained in the website may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical mistakes and should not be relied on as totally accurate. Without notice, information may be changed or updated and any queries relating to the information including queries as to its currency and accuracy should be addressed to the person or persons stipulated on the appropriate web pages relevant to the information, goods or services sought.

2.7. Access

The Site can be viewed without registering with fifedirect. However, registering with the Site will entitle you to access to personalised and online services (referred to in these Terms and Conditions as the "Site Services") in accordance with these Terms and Conditions and which are listed at the end of these Terms and Conditions. To enable you to access the personalised services available on this site you are required to register with the site. Registration with the Site is free. As part of the registration process, you are required to provide us with the information requested in this registration form. You should inform us of any changes to that information (including in particular, your postal or e-mail address) by making the changes via your homepage on fifedirect.

2.8. Availability of Website

I. Fife Council, will cancel or suspend the website or refuse access to it without notice in order to repair, maintain or update the website. Fife Council will cancel, suspend or refuse access to the website for legal reasons without notice. Fife Council, will, where possible give notice of any cancellation or suspension on the website.

II. Where possible and reasonable Fife Council will ensure website availability and the website is error free. Due to the nature of the internet, Fife Council cannot guarantee a completely fault free service and Fife Council gives no warranties or guarantees as to the reliability or quality of access to this site.

3. Security

3.1. General Security

I. You assume full responsibility for the protection of your computer system including computer hardware, software and stored data on your computer system including hardware, software and stored data of third parties who may access or be otherwise connected to your computer system.

II. In accordance with the requirements of the [Data Protection Legislation 2018] Fife Council will take reasonable steps to ensure that data transmitted electronically to Fife Council via the Website or otherwise and stored by Fife Council is not accessed by unauthorised third parties. You accept the risk that data transmitted electronically to Fife Council via the Website or otherwise may be intercepted before reaching Fife Council or accessed from the Fife Council's data storage by third parties not authorised by Fife Council and may be exploited unlawfully by such unauthorised third parties.

III. In the event that you suspect that your security details, including password have been fraudulently used, it is your responsibility to notify Fife Council of this. You must take reasonable precautions to prevent fraudulent use of your personal and security details.

3.2. Fraud

If you discover that payment has been made using your payment card by someone not authorised to do so you should:

(a) inform your payment card provider, the Police and Fife Council of the unauthorised purchase as soon as you discover it; and

(b) co-operate with your payment card provider, the Police and Fife Council in relation to the unauthorised use.

3.3. Viruses

The Site is not guaranteed to be free from any computer viruses and it is strongly recommended that you check for such viruses before downloading it to your computer equipment. We are not responsible for any loss, corruption, damage or disruption to your computer system (including data, software, operating system and hardware) which may occur whilst using the Site or materials downloaded from it.

3.4. Cookies

Cookies are small files stored in your browser and are used by most websites to help personalise your web experience. Some features on this site will not function if you do not allow cookies. For more information on the type of cookies this website uses and how to set your cookie preferences for FifeDirect please see our cookies page.

4. Online Payments

4.1. Payment Security

I. Fife Council will transfer you to an encrypted Secure Server operated by Civica an independent Payment Service Provider where payment will be taken via your credit / debit card. Fife Council will not have access to credit/debit card details at any stage of the payment process. Civica's Terms and Conditions (open link)

II. Fife Council advises that you log out after completing your online transaction.

III. Fife Council will never make any request for credit / debit card information via e-mail. If any such request is made, please contact Fife Council immediately.

IV. It may take up to four days for any funds to be fully transferred.

4.2. About Payments

By using a credit/debit card to pay for your transaction, you confirm that the card being used is yours. All credit/debit card holders are subject to validation checks and authorization by the card issuer. If the issuer of your card refuses to authorize payment we will not accept your order and we will not be liable for any delay or non-delivery and we are not obliged to inform you of the reason for the refusal. We are not responsible for your card issuer or bank charging you as a result of our processing of your credit/debit card payment in accordance with your order.

4.3. Confirmation of Payment

You will have the option to receive a confirmation of your payment by email as well as an on screen confirmation after you make the payment. This will include a reference number and contact details should you have further enquiries.

4.4. Refunds and Cancellation

I. In the unlikely event that the price of an item has been incorrectly advertised on this website, we will contact you by e-mail (at the address provided with your order details) or telephone you, to ask whether you wish to proceed with the order at the correct price. If you are not happy to proceed, or we are unable to obtain your instructions, we will cancel the order and provide you with a full refund of any monies debited.

II. Refund policies are determined by the department of the requested service. For more information on refunds, contact the appropriate council department directly or via the contact centre.

III. You may cancel a pending transaction (or any part of it) before the goods or services are due to be delivered to you. Cancellation polices may change depending upon the requested services. For more information regarding cancellation contact the appropriate department directly or via the contact centre.

IV. In the event that any payment is to be refunded (either fully or in part) Fife Council will endeavour to make the refund to the card account or bank account from which the refundable payment was made. If, for reasons beyond the Councils control, refunds cannot be made to the originating card/bank account, the refund will be made by cheque to the payee.

5. Privacy policy

(c) keeping you updated about events, issues and news of interest to you; and

(d) providing you with information about products, information and services on offer.

II. As required, in carrying out the above, we will pass the information you provide to the organisation responsible for providing you with that service. The organisation responsible will always be identifiable to you on the site, prior to completing the form. Any additional disclosures to third parties shall only be made where you have provided your consent to us, or where we have a statutory or legal requirement to provide this information. For example the information you provide may be used for the prevention and detection of fraud and may be shared with other Services within Fife Council or other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds for these purposes.

We also use information in aggregate form (so that no individual user is identified):

(a) to build up marketing profiles;

(b) to aid strategic development;

(c) to audit usage of the site;

(d) for market research; and

(e) to provide services.

5.2. Obtaining Information

You have the right to apply for a copy of the information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected (we reserve the right to make a small charge to cover the cost of providing you with a copy of the information which we hold about you).

I. Each registration is for a single user only. On registration, you will be given a username and asked to choose a password which should not be shared with any other person.You are responsible for all use of the Site made by you using your user name and password (collectively, "ID") and for preventing unauthorised use of your ID. If you disclose your ID to another person in contravention of these Terms and Conditions, you shall also be responsible for their unauthorised use of the Site using your ID. If you believe there has been any breach of security such as the disclosure, theft or unauthorised use of your ID, please notify us by e-mailing [fifedirect@fife.gov.uk]

II. However, we reserve the right to suspend or cancel your access to and use of some or all of the Site Services at any time on giving reasonable notice to you. If applicable, notice will be given to your e-mail address as notified to us. In that event, notice of cancellation/suspension will be deemed to have been received by you three hours after transmission or posting. If you wish to cancel your registration then you can do this by sending a notice of cancellation via your personalised homepage.

6. Liability and Warranty

6.1. Disclaimer

I. Fife Council is committed to the highest standard and quality of information and every attempt has been made to present up-to-date accurate information. However, Fife Council gives no warranty as to the accuracy of the information on the website. Fife Council shall not be liable for any losses or damages arising from your use of the website, including reliance on information contained on the website, other than in respect of death or personal injury caused by our negligence or in respect of fraud.

II. It is the responsibility of Users of Fife Council's website to satisfy themselves prior to using any information on the website in any way and that it is suitable for their purposes. Users are strongly recommended to refer to alternative independent sources of information to confirm the basis of their decision before making any decisions bases on any information on Fife Council's website. The information provided on the website has not been written to meet individual requirements of Users.

III. Although Fife Council takes all reasonable measures to ensure that the information provided to it from third parties is accurate and not defamatory or offensive it cannot control the content or take responsibility for pages maintained by external providers or linked pages. It is the responsibility of the user to report any content that is consider to be inaccurate , defamatory or offensive as they become aware of it, so that we might take appropriate action.

6.2. Liability

I. The Content is only for your general information and use and is not intended to address your particular requirements. In particular, the Content does not constitute any form of personalised advice, recommendation or arrangement by us and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making (or refraining from making) any decisions. Due to the number of sources from which we obtain Content and the nature of electronic distribution via the Internet, we do not give any warranties or make any representations in respect of the Site Services. In particular, the Site Services are provided on an "as is", "with all faults" and "as available" basis. So far as lawfully possible, we exclude all liability to you in contract or delict (negligence) (other than where negligence by us gives rise to personal injury or death) including without limitation:

(a) any implied conditions regarding the satisfactory quality or fitness for a particular purpose of the Site Services;

(b) any express or statutory conditions relating to the Site Services; and

(c) any conditions or duties regarding accuracy, timeliness, completeness or performance of the Site Services. Other than as specified above, we shall not be liable to pay any money to you by way of compensation for any loss suffered by you as a result of use of the Site Services and/or the Site including by way of example any loss of profits, loss of goodwill, or loss of anticipated savings.

Opinions expressed within the Content are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent our opinions.

II. Fife Council will only be liable to you for any losses resulting from the use of the Website in the following circumstances:-

(a) Where the losses are suffered as a result of Fife Council breaking any term of the Conditions of Use and/or General Conditions.

(b) Where there is a breach of a legal duty of care owed to you by Fife Council or any employees or agents of Fife Council; and

III. Fife Council will not be liable for:

(a) losses that are indirect and which happen as a side effect of the main loss or damage and that are not foreseeable;

(b); any loss or damage resulting from the use of any other website connected to the Website by means of a hypertext link or any other link;

(c) any economic loss or loss of profit resulting from the use of the website for the purpose of business.

(d) any increase in loss or damage resulting from breach by you of any term of the Conditions of Use and General Conditions of Sale / Special Conditions.

IV. Fife Council accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any data corruption, interception or delay or any inaccuracies or errors that may occur except in consumer sales to the extent that the Fife Council or its employees or agents is in breach of its agreement with you, negligent or in breach of its statutory duty when the provisions of Clauses 2.2 and 2.3 above will apply.

V. Nothing in these terms shall exclude Fife Council's liability for death or personal injury arising from the negligence of Fife Council, its employees, agents or contractors resulting from the use of the Website.

VI. Neither you nor Fife Council shall be liable to the other in respect of loss damage or delay or any failure to deliver if the cause of such loss etc., shall arise from any act of government or other competent authority or any public utility or external, postal, or courier services or Internet Service Provider, flood, storm, tempest or other freak of nature, riot, civil or commotion, action of hostile foreign state (whether or not a formal declaration of war has been made given or received) fire, explosion, malicious damage, act of God or other occurrence which could not have been avoided or mitigated by the application of due diligence or foresight.

VII. You undertake to indemnify and keep indemnified Fife Council against all damages, costs, expenses, awards, liabilities, losses and claims to any person and any loss of or damage arising from any personal injury or property due to, in whole or in part, any act or omission on your part whether or not in breach of these terms and conditions or arising from your negligence.